USDA delivers bullish suprises

USDA had some bullish surprises in its August Crop Production report. While the 13.8 billion bushel corn estimate represents a record crop, it is more than 200 million bushels below the average pre-report estimate. The trade expected more than a bushel per acre increase in the average yield, USDA cut its yield forecast more than two bushels per acre from last month. The soybean crop is also less than the trade expected, at 3.25 billion bushels, about 80 million below the average trade guess. The yield is cut almost two bushels per acre from last month and harvested acres are down 500,000 from the June Planted Acreage report.